The Martin Luther Schule Teacher Award seeks to advance the German-American exchange tradition at the Martin Luther Schule in Rimbach, Germany, about 40 minutes away from the university town of Heidelberg. Rimbach is located in the Odenwald, a rural area with rolling hills, lots of walking trails, and many town centers that date to medieval times. The Martin Luther Schule (GoogleMaps) was founded in 1887, and it shares with St. Olaf College a heritage grounded in the values of the Lutheran Church. Today, the Martin Luther Schule is a well-regarded, publicly funded Gymnasium known especially for its music program, a “Schule mit Schwerpunkt Musik”. The school also has a large English faculty, offers multiple English-German dual-language academic tracks, and its global outreach includes a program in east India. The campus consists of three connected buildings that emphasize library and media resources, natural sciences, and art and music.
The program of Rimbach teachers was started in 1948 to support the Lutheran World Federation relief projects during post-World War II reconstruction in Germany. Professor Howard Hong of St. Olaf College forged the agreement with the student body association that provided travel funds for twenty teachers between 1949 and 1968. After a period of dormancy, the program was re-established in 2002, thanks in part to the enthusiastic initiative of St. Olaf alumnus James V. Anderson ’51.
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